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Sunday, March 5, 2017

Review of "The Impossible Dream"

For Red Sox fans, just mention the year "1967" and it will bring a smile to their faces. Even if they are not old enough to have seen the team that year, all Red Sox fans can tell you about the "Impossible Dream" season. A book has been written about that season and it is a very good mix of recaps and insight from key members of the team. Here is my review of "The Impossible Dream"

“Red Sox Nation” is a term that has recently come into wide-spread use
when one talks about the legion of Boston Red Sox fans. While it has grown in
recent years thanks to the team’s three World Series titles, the idea of a “Red
Sox Nation” really began in 1967, when the team made an improbable one year
turnaround from ninth place to an American League pennant.

That magical season for the Red Sox and their fans is captured in this book by
long time Red Sox Magazine writer Herb Crehan. Drawing from his experience with
the team, Crehan relives that “Impossible Dream” season through interviews with
14 key members of the team. Some will be familiar names to all baseball fans,
such as Carl Yastremski and Dick Williams. Others not as familiar except to Red
Sox fans such as Joe Foy and Russ Gibson. Each player interviewed has his own
chapter, in which there is plenty of recaps of key games and moments of the
1967 season.

The writing is of the style that shows mostly knowledge but also a touch
of bias toward the Red Sox. That is to
be expected from an author who has covered the franchise for a long time and
would have some bias toward the team. There
is some sadness on the chapter about Tony Conigliaro, a lot of excitement in
the chapter on Jim Lonberg as that one covers the final two games of the season
in which the Red Sox had to defeat the Minnesota Twins in order to win the
pennant. The best chapter was the last
one, however, when Crehan brought the reader into the mind of manager Dick
Williams and the highs and lows of the memorable seven game World Series won by
the St. Louis Cardinals.

Red Sox fans in particular will love this book as it recaptures the joy
they felt during that summer or in the case of younger Red Sox fans, they can
learn about that team that they have heard about for nearly 50 years. Even if one is not a Red Sox fan, it is a
good addition to the library of any baseball fan.

I wish to thank Summer Game Books for providing a copy of the book in
exchange for an honest review.